Vault or safe locking mechanism



Nov. 13, 1923.. 11,473,985

v B. A. BUYER ET AL VAULT on SAFE LOCKING MECHANISM i Filed Dec. 9. 1921 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Zeri B. A. BOYER ET AL VAULT 0R SAFE LOCKING MECHANISM Nov. 13 1923.

Filed Dec. 9. 1921 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 QQET Patented Nova 13, 1923.

can r s innate BUIEORD A. BOYER AND ALBERT KROFF'I, F HEMPLE, MISSOURI.

VAULT OR SAFE LOCKING MECHANISM.

Application filed December 9, 1921.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that we, Bnrom) A. Bonn: and ALBERT Knorr'r, both citizens of the United States, residing at Hemple, in the county of Clinton and State of Missouri, have invented new and useful Improvements in Vault or Safe Locking Mechanism, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to safe or vault 1 locking mechanisms, one object of the invention being to provide means operating automatically when the vault or safe door is first opened, to prevent the combination locking means for the door to be again operated whether the door be opened or closed.

A further object of the invention is to provide means operating in the manner stated for the accomplishment of the result defined which in no way interferes with the closing of the door and moving of the bolts thereof to locking position.

A still further object of the invention is to provide improved means whereby the sliding lock bolts of the door may be held 25 against movement upon the interior of the door without in any way effecting or moving the combination locking mechanism car ried by the door.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists of the features of construction, combination and arrangement of parts, hereinafter fully described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure l is'a rear elevation of a vault or safe door of conventional form, and illustrating as applied thereto auxiliary locking means constructed in accordance with the invention (the rear face plate of the door being removed); the view showing the door in locked position and the combination mechanism in such position as will permit of the locking bolts being retracted.

Figure 2 is a similar view, showing the parts in the position they will assume when the locking bolts have been fully retracted.

Figure 3 is a view similar to Figures 1 and 2 and showing the parts in the position they will assume when it is attempted to close the door without resetting the latch plate,

Serial No. 521,156.

Figure 4 is a vertical sectional view taken upon line 4-4 of Figure 1,

Figure 5 is a detail perspective view of the latch plate, and

Figure 6 is a fragmentary perspective view of the locking lever.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings 5 indicates a conventional type of safe or vault door, the same being provided with slidable bolts 6, connected by the bar 7 so as to move in unison; the said bolts and bar operating in the usual well known manner. The door is provided with the usual rotatable knob or handle, engaged as at 8 with the bar 7 to move the latter to unlocked or locked positions. The bar 7 has extending rearwardly therefrom an arm 9 adapted to cooperate with the combination mechanism 10 to maintain the locking bolts in either retracted or projected positions. The combination mechanism may be of any desired type, the same in the present instance including a disk as shown, having a gap or notch 11 in its periphery adapted when brought into alinement with the rear end of arm 9 to permit the latter to slide rearwardly and allow the locking bolts 6 to be moved to unlocked or retracted position. It will be understood, of course, that when the bar 7 has been moved to full forward position, the rear end of arm 9 will be disengaged from the notch or gap 11 in the combination disk, and the latter may be turned out of alinement with the said arm. The combination mechanism upon the in terior of the door is enclosed by a housing or casing indicated at 21, and it will be understood that a rotatable knob extends through from the combination mechanism to the exterior of the door to enable the combination mechanism to be actuated from without.

The bar 7 is equipped with mechanism of an improved nature adapted, when the lock bolts have been retracted, to prevent the arm 9 subsequently to be entirely removed from within gap 11. This prevents the door he ing locked without first having operated the said improved mechanism to permit of the arm being disengaged from the combina tion mechanism. In the present instance,

this mechanism includes a latch bar or plate 13 carried by the bar 7 and disposed transversely thereof. This latch plate is capable of sliding transversely of bar 7 being supported upon the latter by pins 1 1 and 15 passing through longitudinally disposed slots 16 and 17 in latch plate or bar 13 and held in the bar 7. The pins and slots are so arranged and disposed that when the latch bar is retracted to its full extent, the forward end of the said latch plate or bar is disposed even with or rearwardly of the forward edge of bar 7, but the pin and slot construction permits of the latch plate being movedforwardly so that the forward edge thereof projects beyond the corresponding edge of bar 7, and acts as a stop to prevent the bar 7 moving to full closed posi tion. The slot 16, it will be noted, com-- municates at its upper edge with a recess 18 in the latch plate, and a stop 19 is thus formed'in the upper portion of the slot 16 inwardly from the ends of the saidslot. The rear end of the latch plate is provided with a handle or finger grip 20. to permit of the platebeing actuated.

The combination mechanism upon the interior of the door iscovered by a housing or casing 21, this housing in the present instance] being of circular or' cylindrical shape and being secured to the door in any approved manner. This casing is provided with a shoulder 22, disposed in such position as to provide an abutment for the rear end of-the latch plate 13', and the rear end of the said latch plate engages this shoulder when'the bar 7 is retracted and is held thereby during continued movement ofsaid bar until thepin 14- moves beneath thegap or recess 18 and behind the stop 19. Immediately upon this position being reached, the latch plate will gravitate at its rear end, swinging upon pin 15 and permitting the stop 19 to drop down in advance of pin 14. lVhen so positioned, the forward end of latch plate 13 will have been advanced slightly beyond the for ward edge of bar 7 and should it be attempted to move bar, 7 forwardly to bolt locking position, the forward'edge of the latch plate will engage an abutment sur face 23 on the door frame and prevent the said bar moving to its complete forward position. This arresting of bar 7 will not, however. prevent the operative portions of bolts 6 entering recesses in the door framing but the arresting ofthe forward movement of the bar will take place just before the rear end of arm 9 has passed out of gap 11 in the combination disk.

Associated with the above described mechanism there is means operable manually fron theinterior of the door, and automatically when the combination mechanism lock bolt carrying bar 7 against being retractet. This mechanism includes a lever 2% pivoted at its rear end to the door near the rear edge thereof and being forked as at 25 at its free end so a to straddle bar 7. The lever 2 1-, is of such length that when turned u 'iwardly at an angle, "such as shown in the drawing, the bar 7 may move freely backwardly and forwardly in the forked end25 of the bar without being impeded in its movements by the said bar. However, should the lever 24 be released it will swing downwardly upon its pivot and the crotch or forked end thereofwill engage behind bar 7 and hold the latter againstretracting movements. the casing or housing 21 of the combination mechanism, a spring arm 26 being attached at its uper end to said casing and depending therefrom and having near its lower end an inwardly extending pin 27 which engages normally beneath the lever when the latter is in raised or inoperative position and maintains said lever so positioned. By reason of the resiliency of arm 26, the same may be engaged and moved outwardly so as to withdraw pin 27 from beneath lever 24, permitting the latter to drop to it downward or locked position. "Should 1 happen that the casing or housing 21 be removed from the door, the lever 2t will' be released and will at once gravitate to locking position. i

In operation, when it i desired to lock the vault or safe door the. oflicial will move The lever 2 1 is supported by the latch plate 13 to its extreme rear post tion, so that the forwardedge thereof will not protrude beyond the eorrespondingedge of bar 7. It will be understood, of course, that lever 24 will be lield raised by pin 27. The door istlien closed and the lock bar operating knob is turned so as to throw bolts 6 and bar 7 to their extreme forward or locking position. \Vhen so moved. arm 9 will be withdrawn from engagement with the disk in the combination. mechanism, whereupon the latter may be turned to move said notch out of alinement with the said arm. After so moving the combination mechanism. any attempt to retract the lock bolts will be frustrated, as arm 9 will be held against such retracting movements by the peri t'ihery of the combination disk. When it is desired to unlock the door, the combination is turned so as to move the gap 11 in the disk thereofinto the path of rearward travel of arm 9, whereupon the bolt actuating knob may be turn'edto retract lock bolt 6 from engagement with the'door framing. When'this retracting movement takes place, the rear end of latch plate or bar 13 will engage the shoulder 22 on the combination housing and will be held against further movement, and continued retraction of bar 7 will cause pins 14 and 15 to ride rearwardly in slots 16 and 17. As soon as this movement is suflicient to bring shoulder or stop 19 behind pin 14, the latch plate 13 will drop down, and the forward end of the latch plate will protrude beyond the corresponding edge of bar 7. The latch bar is held in this position by engagement of the stop 19 in advance of pin 14. After this action has taken place, forward movement of bar 7 will be permitted sufliciently to allow the forward ends ofbolts 6 to move into locking engagement with the door framing, but just prior to the full locked position of the said bolts, the bar 7 will be held against further travel by engagement of the forward protruding edge of latch plate 13 with the door abutment. This arresting of movement prevents the rear end of arm 9 passing entirely out of the notch or recess 11 in the periphery of the combination disk, and it is evident that the combination mechanism can not therefore be operated.

Should it happen that the combination mechanism be blown 0H, drilled or in any other manner taken from the door, the easing or housing 21 will drop down and the elevated lever 24: will be released. This lever will at once gravitate to such position that the forked or crotch end thereof will engage behind bar 7 and prevent the latter being retracted. This will prevent the door being opened, in spite of the fact that the combination mechanism may have been destroyed or rendered completely inefi'ective to hold the door against opening movements.

Should it ever become necessary to lock the door of the vault from within after the same has been closed, it is but necessary for the occupant of the vault to move the spring arm 26 away from the door sufliciently to withdraw pin 27 from beneath the lever 24, whereupon the latter will drop down and engage behind bar 7 and prevent actuation of the locking bolts 6. When this has taken place, it will be impossible for any one upon the exterior of the vault to retract bolts 6, yet those upon the interior of the vault may. when desired, lift lever 24 back to normal position and slide the bar to retracted posi tion.

From the foregoing it is apparent that we have disclosed safety mechanism for use in conection with safe or vault doors, wherein the several functions and objects set forth are accomplished, and wherein the action of the several elements is positive and reliable. The mechanism is herein described in its preferred form, but it will be understood that variations therein may be freely resorted to if desired or required without de parting from the invention as defined by the claims.

Having thus fully described our invention, 7

we claim 1. Tu a device of the class described. the combination with locking mechanism including sliding bolts, an arm movable therewith and a notched disk in the path of travel of said arm; of a stop member movable with the bolts and operable automatically upon full retraction of the same to prevent said arm moving from engagement with said notched disk and to prevent the bolts from moving to fully locked position.

2. In a device of the class described. the combination with locking mechanism including sliding bolts, an arm movable therewith and a notched disk in the path of travel of said arm; of a latch plate movable with said bolts when the latter are fully retracted to prevent said bolts being moved wholly to locked position in subsequent operations of the bolts.

3. In a' device of the class described, a door, a locking bolt slidable on said door, a bar connected to and movable with said bolt, a combination lock mechanism including a disk having a gap therein, an arm carried by said bar and positioned at one end adjacent to said disk, and a latch plate carried by said bar and movable automatically upon the retraction of the same to protrude beyond the forward edge of said bar to prevent the latter again moving forwardly and disengaging said arm from said notched disk.

4. In a device of the class described, a door, a bolt slidable in said door, a bar carried by said bolt and movable therewith,

a disk arranged upon said door, an arm car- 1 ried by said bar and having one end dis posed adjacent to said disk, said disk having a notch therein adapted to receive the end of said arm, an abutment on the door adapted to be engaged by said bar when the latter has been moved to full locked position, the said arm being disengaged from saiddisk leaving the latter free to rotate when the bar has been moved into engagement with said abutment, and a latch plate carried by said. bar and operable when the latter has been retracted to engage said abutment so as to prevent full locking movement of said bar.

5. In a device of the class described, a door, a pair of slidable bolts carried by said door, a bar connecting said bolts and movable therewith, an arm carried by said bar and projecting rearwardly therefrom, a disk carried by the door having its periphery disposed in the path of said arm and normally preventing movement of the arm. the said disk having a gap therein to receive said arm, an abutment on the door for limiting forward movement of said bar, a latch plate disposed transversely of said bar and slida hle laterally of the same and adapted in one position to have its forward end project beyond the forward edge of the bar and engage the abutment in advance thereof, a shoulder on said latch plate, a pin carried by the bar and adapted to engage behind said shoulder when the latch plate projects at its forward. end beyond the forward.

edge of said bar and engages said abutment, 10 and a shoulder on said door in thepath of travel of said latch plate when the latter is moved rearwardly.

In testimony whereof we afiix our signatures.

BUFORD A. BUYER. ALBERT KRDFFT. 

